Midnight Blue Velvet Cupcakes

It was about 7pm on a Saturday night. The night before my niece’s 6th birthday.

I’d had a busy week and though I had had it in the back of my mind to ask my sister if she wanted me to bake something I hadn’t got around to it.

So I decided to give my sister a quick call to confirm arrangements for the next day. I thought she might have ordered a cake as she has done that before.

My niece answered the phone and dropped the bombshell:

‘Please can you bring galaxy cupcakes for my birthday?’ she asked.

‘Uh…. I don’t really know what those are!’ I replied.

‘It’s easy – I can help you make them’ she volunteered.

‘I don’t think we have time to make them together cos it’s already quite late now’ I told the eager little baker.

As soon as I got off the phone I sprang into action, using google to find out everything about galaxy cupcakes and what the heck they even are! I discovered that they are usually midnight blue or some sort of dark blue swirl and usually decorated with glitter and silver stars and moons and planets.

Jaye proceeded to go to multiple shops desperately trying to find stars, moons, planets, anything to resemble a galaxy. And then we had to give up – because we couldn’t find anything like that. Not anywhere. Not on short notice anyway.

And then I thought: well what if I just make some midnight blue velvet cupcakes and do a blue sanding sugar for ‘glitter’. And then I’ll see if my sister can find some stars or moons or something near her place and we can just pop them on top of the cupcakes when we arrive!

And so it happened that my niece got her galaxy cupcakes.

So that was what inspired these blue velvet cupcakes. I won’t call them galaxy cupcakes here because other than the color, what makes cupcakes ‘galaxy’ versus not galaxy is the decorations.

When it comes to flavor, this is blue velvet!

So I decided to make another batch for the blog because they worked out so well.

I really went dark with the color here, it’s very much a midnight blue. But still very much blue. They look almost black in the pictures, but in real life they are definitely blue, just a very dark midnight blue.

You could use much less food coloring if you prefer to have a lighter blue color.

Just as with my red velvet cupcakes I matched the frosting instead of going for a contrast color.

And just as with red velvet, the flavor of blue velvet comes about through a very subtle blend of flavors.

So subtle you can hardly put your finger on it. Hints of vanilla, buttermilk and chocolate all merging together to create a unique blue velvet flavor.

Blue sanding sugar works wonderfully as a decoration here because it shines and sparkles and looks very much like blue glitter.

To make it, all you do is put in a couple of drops of blue food coloring into a jar with about 1/4 cup white sugar. Close the lid of the jar and then shake it vigorously so that the color spreads evenly through the sugar.

And there you have your sanding sugar! If it’s a little more than you need, you can just keep it in a sealed jar and use it somewhere else.

The blue food coloring used in these blue velvet cupcakes makes your tongue blue. Just a warning.

But it’s not every day you eat blue things right? So I reckon it’s okay!

These cupcakes are super pretty, wonderfully moist and spongey and make a deliciously colorful treat. Throw some silver stars and half moons and a few round silver balls on top and you have galaxy cupcakes complete with planets!

These blue velvet cupcakes are the most delicious when fresh but they will last a couple of days at room temperature as well.

If you want them to last longer, then keep them in the fridge (covered) where they will stay good for up to a week!

Line a cupcake tray with cupcake liners and divide the batter evenly between them.

Place into the oven to bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Transfer the cupcakes to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Prepare your frosting by adding all the ingredients to a mixing bowl for an electric mixer and starting off at slow speed, gradually increase the speed until the frosting is thick and smooth.

If your frosting is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If it is too thick, add a tiny bit of soy milk at a time and mix until you get the right consistency. The consistency should be very thick to allow for piping on the frosting.

If you want to use some sanding sugar to decorate, add a couple of drops of blue food coloring to about 1/4 cup of white sugar in a jar. Close the lid of the jar and shake the jar vigorously so that the blue dye distributes evenly resulting in perfectly even blue sanding sugar.

Sprinkle on top of the frosted cupcakes.

Notes

*Nutritional information is for 1 cupcake of 12 including a very generous amount of frosting.

About the Author

Hi I'm Alison! I'm a passionate vegan foodie, recipe creator and author of Simple Vegan Dinner Recipes, a digital program created so that you always know the answer to: 'What's For Dinner?' I believe in simple, delicious, accessible and unpretentious vegan food, without unnecessary or hard to find ingredients.

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Hey Daniela, for this shade of blue I think artificial is the only way to go. Natural colors don’t tend to hold when exposed to high heats. I’ve seen blueberries used in other recipes but the end result was not at all blue. Using blueberries in this recipe would change the whole recipe though so if it is something that appeals to you, I would rather look for a recipe that uses blueberries and is formulated around that. All the best!

I’m sure! But in my experience using green food coloring, you can use quite a bit less food coloring to get a great green color, check out my key lime cake for an example: http://lovingitvegan.com/vegan-key-lime-cake/ This cake could easily be adapted to cupcakes as well just by adjusting the baking time down to 25 minutes.

These were awesome, great flavor and texture! I made them into “galaxy” cupcakes for a birthday party and were a hit. Not only do they turn your tongue blue, but you’ll be pooping blue for days after…. 😉 always a nice surprise! Keep the amazing recipes coming! I’m addicted to your blog!

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